Be There
by Nothing You Can Prove
Summary: Dana's week has been pretty rough thanks to a stupid, irresponsible jock. Good thing there's a certain someone around to make it better.


**Hey guys, had a bit of time today (first round of essays is over thankfully) so thought I'd write for a ship I've been wanting to do properly for a while now. Just a quick, short one-shot. Could turn into a longer thing later on or a collection of Wardson one-shots when I have time. We'll see how things go.**

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 **Dana's Room**

It had been about a week and a half since Logan had done a hit and run on Dana. In that time, Juliet had spent almost all of her free time with her friend, even missed some classes, to make sure she was okay. While Dana might seem cheery, when she was down she _really_ hit rock bottom. They had watched pretty much watched every film under the sun, got through enough snacks to feed an army and called Logan all the insulting names they could think of, even inventing a few more for the occasion. All of that seemed to have helped a lot. The pair were sat on Dana's bed, laptop perched precariously on a pile of books stacked on a table so it was tall enough to watch. A bowl of popcorn sat between them, backs pressed to the wall and legs stretched out in front of them. The light was off, door closed so they wouldn't be disturbed.

"Why are all the guys at Blackwell such dicks?" Dana suddenly asked, munching on her popcorn as they rewatched the classic 'Mean Girls'.

Juliet turned to her, taking her eyes off the screen. It wasn't the first time this movie session she had glanced over at Dana and it probably wouldn't be the last, either. "They aren't _all_ dicks, but I admit a lot of them are. Trevor and Justin are cool. Warren's a little weird and nerdy, but harmless. It's just the jocks and Nathan who are the real issue."

Chewing thoughtfully, Dana slowly nodded. "Yeah, you have a point as usual…"

Giving her shoulder a playful nudged, Juliet offered her a smile. "Besides, you don't need boys. You have me."

Dana returned the smile, grateful for the support. It was nice to know at least one person was on her side. "Thanks, Juliet. I wish they were all like you."

The blonde reporter smirked, no longer paying attention to the film. "I'm one of a kind, so that would be impossible."

Rolling her eyes, unable to keep the smile off her face, Dana exhaled in resignation. "You sure are."

"You're making that sound like a bad thing." Juliet narrowed her eyes playfully, glad to see Dana smiling again. The past week and a half had been tough on her. Lots of tears.

"I never said that," she countered, also not watching the film anymore. She could probably quote the whole thing by now, anyway.

Juliet crossed her arms, pretending to be upset. It was all a game, of course. "You didn't need to. Your face and expression say it all."

"You still love me," Dana stated confidently, grabbing another handful of popcorn and doing her best not to spill it all over the bed or down her top. Fishing kernels from her bra was not her idea of fun.

"Unfortunately for me, yes." Juliet sighed. That was truer than Dana actually knew.

The other girl shoved her arm, trying to get her attention again. "Hey, I'm the one who's supposed to be down here. Don't steal my spotlight. What's up?"

"I dunno, I just… hate seeing you sad. That's all." Not a complete lie, but not the complete truth, either.

"I'm not sad anymore, not really…" Dana made a face, swiftly correcting herself, "okay, a little, but it's better now you're here."

Giving her a long hard look, Juliet asked, "You really mean that?"

Sensing a slight hint of uncertainty, the other girl reassured her. Without Juliet, she'd probably have holed herself up in her room for a month. "I do. A lot better. It always is when you're around."

Happy for the confirmation, the blonde girl grinned. It felt good to hear. "Ah stop, you'll make me blush."

"Maybe I want to." Dana grinned, a flicker of teasing in her tone. It was nice to just mess around like this after the week she'd had.

Not sure if she was completely joking or not, Juliet shrugged the comment off as an attempt to just cause embarrassment. "Well, you'll have to do better than that."

A little disappointed that she didn't take the bait, Dana pressed forward. "Will I now? Sounds like a challenge." Her expression shifting to something more serious, she cleared her throat. There was something important she needed to talk to Juliet about. A little scary, but necessary. "Serious talk, I've had some time to think about my relationship choice. No more hook ups with Jocks, that's first on my list."

"I approve."

"Second, get to actually know someone before I let them in my pants. I mean, that's fun and all but I could use something more emotionally stable right now." Dana was done with meaningless hook ups. They never ended well.

Juliet nodded in agreement. "Also a good tactic."

"Thirdly…" she paused for a second or two, gathering her thoughts, "find someone I can date who actually gives a shit about me. Who won't ditch when the going gets tough."

Reaching over to take hold of Dana's hand and giving it a comforting squeeze, Juliet gave her a gentle smile, voice low. "Sounds like a plan, batman."

Now came the difficult bit... "Right now, I can only really think of one person in my life who fits that bill."

That piqued Juliet's curiosity… and her concern. "Who?"

Wanting to play with her a little longer, Dana gave a sly secretive grin. "Oh, someone seems overly curious."

Not sure how to react to that, Juliet just shrugged. She was happy her friend was moving on… if a little jealous of whoever had caught her attention. "Well, I need to make sure the guy you chose is good enough for you."

Dana offered her a sly smile. "I don't remember ever saying they were a guy."

That made her hesitate. Not wanting to get her hopes up too much, but also taking the look Dana was giving her as a good sign, she cautiously proceeded. "Oh, well, I have to make sure whoever it is you like's good enough, then."

Seeing the realization in her friend's eyes, Dana continued dropping hints. "I think you'll agree she's perfect for the job. If she wants it, of course."

Willing to take the risk and commit, her heart beating faster by the minute, Juliet hesitantly replied, "I think she might."

Dropping all pretenses now, Dana all but confirmed who she was talking about without actually saying it directly. "You would know best."

"And why's that?" By this point, Juliet was just messing with her. It wasn't hard to guess who Dana meant. That and she kind of wanted to hear it straight from the horse's mouth before she got too hopeful."

"How about I describe her and you can guess? Let's see… I've known her for a little while now. She has an unhealthy fascination with gossip, not that I don't," Dana added as an afterthought before continuing. "She's loyal, not to mention cute, and a really good friend. Unlike most people, she actually listens. Sure, there is a slight chance that what I say could end up in the school newspaper, but it's worth the risk."

Tapping her chin with a finger, Juliet pretended she was thinking hard about who it could be. "Hmm… think I need more info."

"Okay, okay, one last clue…" Dana chuckled, clearly catching on to the teasing at her expense and deciding to play along, "she might be in this room right now."

Wanting to prolong this for just a moment long, Juliet smirked. "What, got someone hiding in the closet I don't know about?"

Dana visibly rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah, literally a closet lesbian." Done beating around the bush, she exhaled deeply and went all in. "Okay, enough joking around. Real talk, it took me a while to figure it all out, but… I like you, Juliet." With the first and hardest part out of the way, she continued more calmly. "You're always there when I need you, like this past week or so, and I have a constant smile plastered on my face whenever I think about you. It's actually driving me crazy. Maybe this isn't the best time to be saying all this, but there might never be one."

Taking a moment to process all this, Juliet looked into her blue eyes seeing that she meant every word she said. Not seeing any point in hiding it any longer, she cleared her throat. "My turn to be honest, I guess. When you were 'dating' Logan, if you could call it that, I felt… jealous is probably the right word. I didn't say anything because it would just make things awkward, so I kept it to myself. Maybe I should've said something sooner to save you from all the bullshit." She couldn't help but feel guilty about that.

"Kinda wish you had, but it's not your fault. It's mostly Logan's…" Dana sighed deeply, "and mine, too."

Juliet shook her head, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's not your fault, Dana. We all make mistakes."

Dana put her hand over the other girl's to keep it in place, gently easing her fingers so their hands were interlocked. "Yeah, but this doesn't seem like it's going to be one of them."

"I hope not because I…" pushing through the slight embarrassment, Juliet looked her straight in the eye, "like you, too."

Shaking her head and giving a sad smile, Dana let out a short, self-depreciative laugh. "What a couple of idiots we are, huh? It could have been so much simpler, but we had to go making it overly complicated."

Knowing what she was about to say would sound cheesy as hell, Juliet went ahead and said it anyway. "I think the fact that it's complicated proves that it's real."

"Ooh, that was surprisingly deep." Dana grinned, playfully mocking her.

"I can be deep and meaningful when I want to," the blonde reporter protested, pouting.

Resting her head on Juliet's shoulder, Dana closed her eyes and exhaled softly. "I know. It's nice to hang around with someone who does actually show some emotion for a change." After a few seconds of peaceful silence, she lifted her head up and glanced up at the blonde. "So, I guess we're on the same page now."

Juliet hesitantly placed a hand on her cheek, looking into her eyes. "I think so."

After a brief moment of hesitation, Dana leaned in closer. Picking up on what was about to happen, Juliet met her part way. Their lips collided for a brief, gentle kiss, and another… another...

On the fourth brief kiss, Dana rested her forehead against Juliet's, sighing contently. Out of all the ways this could have gone, this was by far the best outcome. "Makes a nice change for someone not to be trying to eat my face off when they kiss me, too."

Pulling back a little so she could actually look at Dana, Juliet smirked. "I mean, I can do that too if the situation calls for it."

Letting out a soft chuckle, Dana couldn't help but smile. She was smiling so much her face was starting to hurt. "I don't think it will. This is enough… for now."

Juliet's hand finding hers, the blonde started playing with her fingers. "Sounds like I've got some things to look forward to."

"You bet, but first… let's finish the film." They got comfortable again, shuffling much closer than before, holding hands for the remainder of the film. The atmosphere between them was calm, unburdened for the first time this week.

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 **Thanks for reading and have an amazing day.**


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